Youth TodayYou're 16, homeless and sleeping on a park bench when police grab you at 3 in the morning. Vagrancy, trespassing or a host of minor offenses send you tumbling into the juvenile justice system. Or you're 16, do something stupid with marijuana, get caught trespassing, missing curfews or skipping school. You have a home but no true family support system, and suddenly, with a criminal record, nobody's hiring, school expelled you and your family tossed you out of the house. You too wind up homeless.READ MORE

ASHAASHA annually honors leaders in school health, awards scholarships for current and pre-service school health professionals who are ASHA members, and invites ASHA members to become future leaders. Recipients are recognized for outstanding accomplishments in school health or for service to ASHA and their profession. Each year, our award recipients are honored during ASHA's Annual School Health Conference. This year, ASHA is pleased to bring back the School Health Educator of the Year Award! Click on the following links to learn more about submitting for ASHA awards, ASHA scholarships, and ASHA's Future Leaders Academy.READ MORE

ASHADid you know that you can access every issue and the full archive of the Journal of School Health (JOSH) online? Click here to login, then click on "JOSH Online." One great way that you can support ASHA is to go green with your annual subscription of JOSH, which costs $70 per member to print and mail. If you don't need or want to receive hardcopies of your member subscription of JOSH, please contact info@ashaweb.org and we'll be glad to take your name off of the mailing list.READ MORE

Psychology TodayThe movement to have school districts move start times to later in the morning has been ongoing for years and has attained considerable momentum. School districts use multiple sources of information to guide their decisions, including feedback from their various constituencies (e.g. parents, teachers, students, coaches, transportation directors, administrators). They also rely on research that has been brought to bear on the topic, often soliciting the opinions of persons who have conducted the research. READ MORE

ReutersEleven U.S. states have agreed to drop a lawsuit against an Obama administration order for transgender students to use bathrooms of their choice after the measure was revoked by President Donald Trump, a court filing showed. In a filing in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Justice Department said the states, led by Texas, had agreed to drop the lawsuit, and it was dropping its appeal against a federal judge's August stay on the Obama directive.READ MORE

Education WeekCritics of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos are seizing on a comment she made at the Conservative Political Action Conference that she is "perhaps the first person to tell Bernie Sanders to his face that there's no such thing as a free lunch." And many are wrongly claiming she suggested eliminating free lunches in the National School Lunch Program as part of her speech. After a heated confirmation battle in which critics panned the wealthy donor's education policy views as out-of-touch with the needs of everyday students, they've been quick to point out that millions of U.S. public school students actually do receive free lunches, and that many rely on those subsidized meals to make up for a deficit of nutrition at home.READ MORE

HealthDay NewsGel hand sanitizer dispensers are ubiquitous now in American homes and schools, but a new government report suggests a rise in kids getting sick after ingesting the products. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers tracked illnesses from 2011 to 2014 for children aged 12 and under. The investigators believe some kids in the higher age range may be drinking sanitizers because of the products' high alcohol content.READ MORE

Education WeekA report from the Girl Scout Research Institute finds that girls with lower socioeconomic status participate in extracurricular activities less often than their more affluent peers. The report by the research arm of the Girl Scouts of the USA entitled "The State of Girls 2017: Emerging Truths and Troubling Trends," uses data from national and government sources to take a look at girls' well-being in the United States. The information was collected between 2012 and 2016. While it covers a lot of ground, including demographic information, a look at the number of girls living in poverty, and the state of girls' physical and mental health, our focus here is on girls' participation in extracurricular and after-school activities.READ MORE

Medical XpressTeens should think twice if they believe the negative effects from misusing medication to treat ADHD are short-term. In fact, problems associated with prescription stimulant misuse can last through age 35, according to a new University of Michigan study. But using medication to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as prescribed by doctors does not show long-term negative effects. However, high school students who use prescription stimulant medication on their own — without a doctor's orders — are less likely to obtain a four-year college degree and more likely to develop a substance use disorder as adults.
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The Seattle TimesTomas Garcia has broad shoulders, three earrings and fashionably ripped jeans. His appearance gives no indication there's anything but good things ahead for the Roosevelt High School senior. But by his own admission, he's lucky to be at school. As a freshman, he sought out mental-health counseling at school when his parents separated, and again as a junior, when his rebellion was overtaking his studies. "If I hadn't come in here, I don't think I'd be on track to graduate, to be honest," said Garcia.READ MORE

UPIResearch from the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care calls for action by primary care physicians in preventing smoking in children and teens. The study is the first guideline from the task force on tobacco use by children and youth ages 5 to 18. "Advice from primary care physicians and allied health care professionals is just one tool in the tool kit that society can use in the prevention and treatment of smoking, but it is a crucial tool for helping to reduce and prevent cigarette use among youth," Dr. Brett Thombs, chair-elect of the task force, chair of the guideline working group and author of the study, said in a press release.READ MORE

ADDitude MagazineArt therapy uses the processes of drawing, painting, and sculpting to help children address emotional problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress and increase self-awareness. Learn how it works for kids with ADHD, autism and other challenges. READ MORE